1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the seating art and more particularly to a seating arrangement having a flexible back portion and/or seat portion into which one or more bendable, rigid support members may be inserted to provide a rigid support for portions of the back, buttocks and/or thighs of the user.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In many seating arrangements heretofore utilized in various applications there have been provided flexible back and/or seat portions. Such applications include many mobile strollers, lawn and patio furniture, and the like. In some of such seating arrangements provisions are made for adjusting the contours of the back and/or seat to accommodate the back configuration an/or the hip-buttock-thigh configuration of persons suffering from various deformities of the body. In my prior U.S. patent applications, Ser. No. 08/417,738 and Ser. No. 08/946,302, I have described various stroller configurations having flexible back and/or seat portions. The flexible back and/or seat portions may be fabricated in some applications from a plurality of bands or straps of cloth, plastic, or other woven or unwoven materials secured to rigid side frames. Such bands or straps can be individually adjusted so as to vary the amount of slack between the rigid side frames to allow for individual contouring thereof to conform to the body shape of the user. Alternatively, in other applications, a sheet of fabric of cloth, plastic or other flexible material is coupled between the side frames and generally there is some amount of slack between the side frames. In both such applications, the flexible nature of the seat and back portion allows the seating arrangement to be folded for convenient storage which is a desired feature in many strollers or other mobile seating applications.
Lawn and patio furniture used in the past often incorporated flexible back and/or seat portions fabricated from cloth, plastic or the like and either in a single sheet between two rigid side frames or in bands or straps between two rigid side frames.
Such prior art seating arrangements incorporating the flexible back and/or seat portions provided comparatively light weight and/or foldable characteristics, they did not provide all characteristics often desired in seating arrangements. That is, the flexible nature of the back and/or seat portions dial not provide for a rigid support of certain portions of the body of the user such as, for example, the lumbar portion of the back. In those applications for persons having some degree of physical deformation, it is often desired to provide a more rigid support to the contours of the body than is available by adjusting the tension in the straps or bands forming the back or seat. There have heretofore been utilized a rigid back and/or seat portion of a seating arrangement for such persons suffering from physical deformities. This was achieved by making a casting corresponding to the body contours of the person. Such a casting was applicable to only one person and was not adaptable to changes in the contour of the person over time. Also, such castings are comparatively expensive and often were heavy in weight.
The contours of those persons suffering from a physical deformity often change with time and, of course, vary from person to person. Thus, rigid supports to be utilized in such seating applications having flexible back and/or seat portions are desired to be bendable to various contours to accommodate the various contours of persons who will utilize the seating arrangement but remain rigid in each contour to which they may be bent to provide support to the person during use. The bendable nature of the supports allows the same rigid support member to be bent to accommodate not only the desired contours of the body of the user at any one time but also to allow for change in the contour of the rigid support member to accommodate changes in the contour of the body of the user.
Further, it is also often desired to install such bendable rigid support members in the flexible back and/or seat portions of seating arrangements in various orientations with respect to the rigid side frames. That is, they may be desired to be installed parallel to the side frames, perpendicular to the side frames or at some other angular orientation. Such orientation will often depend on the particular contour that the rigid support member is to accommodate.
Prior art seating arrangements have not been able to provide the above desired features. Thus, there has long been a need for a seating arrangement of the type having a flexible back and/or seat portion also having provisions for selective insertion of bendable, rigid support members therein to accommodate the body contours of the user and adaptable to be bent into shapes providing such rigid support as may be desired for all persons as well as selective contouring to accommodate those with some physical deformity.